Money Saving Travel Tips

Kyle does web design and content creation for B&B RV in Denver, Colorado. He loves to travel and spends most of his free time in the Colorado wilderness.

A Case for Hitting the Road

It’s long been known that travel is important for our mental health.

In fact, psychological literature has even shown that travel activates circuitry in our brain that is not tapped into during normal daily life.

Studies have shown that creative thinking can be increased by as much as 50% when a person is placed in a new environment. Reasons for why this may be the case can be traced back to our evolution.

[ctt template=”5″ link=”xZ8cp” via=”no” nofollow=”yes”]It’s long been known that travel is important for our mental health.[/ctt]

Before the advent of civilization, a new environment was a dangerous place. Someone who got thrust into a new environment but wasn’t feeling a heightened awareness was less likely to survive. Predators and hostile people were prevalent. Because of this, travel can be a life-hack of sorts.

[ctt template=”5″ link=”XAnEB” via=”no” nofollow=”yes”]Travel allows you to take advantage of heightened creativity, increases in general awareness, and a fresh perspective.[/ctt]

Travel is clearly worth making a priority.

For many of us, however, it comes with one problem… traveling is expensive!

Therefore, we are sharing three of our best money saving travel tips.

Airline Miles

If you have decent credit, intelligent use of airline rewards can take you a long way (literally).

Many airline cards will offer promotional deals that allow you to spend $1,000 and get a 20,000-mile bonus.

Obviously, be extremely cautious with credit cards. It is all too easy to over-extend yourself financially. However, with disciplined use, one can get some pretty swanky trips booked for free.

Use your airline card for every purchase you make, as well as any eligible bills. Pay off the balance once a month and avoid any interest charges. Money saving travel tips are of no use if you run up credit card bills.

I am also constantly on the lookout for opportunities to put large sums of money on my credit card that is easy to recover. For example, I may look for a good deal on a nice bicycle on eBay. I can then purchase the bike on the airlines card and flip it for a small profit plus my miles.

Stick to the Road

Renting an RV is much cheaper than a hotel. Even better, you stay in a new place every night!

The key to a great vacation is the novelty.

New experiences are what make travel valuable, so renting an RV is an excellent option. A great option is to use your airline miles to fly to a part of the country you’d like to see. Then hop into a rental RV and check out the sites. An RV trip can truly be an experience you’ll never forget.

Enjoy The Goodwill of Others

There are multiple places online that allow you to “couch surf.” Good-meaning folks will open their home to you and allow you to sleep in a spare bedroom or… a couch.

You can read reviews from other couch surfers that have stayed with them as a way to avoid negative or even dangerous situations.

This is a fantastic way to get the benefits of travel as it will force you to be more social.

There are countless ways to reduce the cost of travel. It all boils down to making travel a priority and thinking creatively. So get out there and see the world, you won’t regret it.

35 Comments

One thought after reading your article was the other choice people have of renting a camper or travel trailer versus a drivable RV. Towing a camper allows one to set up camp and have their own vehicle free to go enjoy the outdoors. I hope the suggestion helps some people plan their next outing.

I don’t have any money saving tips I’m afraid, but I will add my two cents to your point about the value of travel. I’ve been a traveler my whole life – growing up my parents drove us across the country from Los Angeles to New York and back every year until I graduated from high school, and each trip my dad would take a different route. Then when I grew up I went into hotel sales and traveled the world. In fact, I’m feeling overdue for a good long road trip now! Thanks for the advice and inspiration. 🙂

I never had the travel bug, but your post is making me rethink this! I did not know about the literature indicating that travel has such an effect on our brain! Maybe I should take a trip and work on my blog from there. Thank you for the information!

I love to save money for traveling but also pinch pennies. One thing that you can also do if you have a big vehicle like an SUV or mini van or can’t afford an RV you can always just camp at the cheapest sites. I rather spend $12 to $30 per night then to spend over $100 for an hotel any day. Gives me more money to use to explore and enjoy the trip then on a room I am only going to sleep in. I love my Delta Credit Card too and the miles we stack. Definitely a good investment. Love this post. Very on point. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.

Together we will explore the seven dimensions of wellness. Social, Emotional, Spiritual, Environmental, Occupational, Intellectual and Physical. We will, in particular, concentrate on great relationships because if you have this with yourself and with others than anything is possible.